Disposable absorbent products for absorption of bodily fluids are available in different types, designs, and dimensions. For example, baby diapers, adult diapers, baby pants, adult pants, and incontinence guards, are products designed for the containment of urine and excrement. There are other types of disposable absorbent articles, such as feminine hygiene products (e.g., heavy and light incontinence pads, pantiliners) that are designed to contain and absorb urine and/or menses secreted by female wearers. Known products of this type typically include a topsheet facing the body of the wearer, a backsheet facing the garment worn by the wearer, and an absorbent core sandwiched between the topsheet and backsheet.
In conventional products of that type, the core may include a pair of discrete fluid storage structures, for example stacked over one another. U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,572 illustrates that type of design. This type of stacked arrangement, however, may result in products that are relatively bulky and therefore unappealing and/or uncomfortable to the wearer.
Other known products have addressed the above-discussed bulkiness by having a core in which one of the discrete fluid storage structures is a relatively thin layer of absorbent material, such as an airlaid-based structure or a foam structure. A problem with some of these thin layers of material is their rigidity, and more specifically the rigidity along the edges and at the corners of those layers, especially when cut with a die along the perimeter. The pressure of the die cutting through the material creates a compressed and densified edge, which is stiff and uncomfortable against the thighs of the wearer. And while rounded/chamfered corners and/or edges may address the problems associated with the rigidity of these materials, the required rounding/chamfering increases the overall cost and complexity of the manufacturing processes involved. Moreover, rounding/chamfering may result in the production of trimmed portions of material, which further increases material costs, and may require additional equipment and processes for recycling or disposition of those trimmed portions. Additionally, the rounding/chamfering of fluid storage structures of this type reduces the overall absorption capacity of the products of which those structures form part, by virtue of the removal of those portions of material otherwise available for storing fluid.
It would be advantageous, therefore, to provide disposable absorbent products, and related methods, that address these and other shortcomings of conventional disposable absorbent products of the type described above.